As most of you know, the Narrative Lectionary is leading us through the Psalms this season after Pentecost. It’s been interesting for me to preach the Psalms-I don’t think I’ve ever spent any time preaching them-and reminds me, again and again, how much I love poetry. A few of you enjoyed the Billy Collins’ poem I shared on Sunday, so I thought I’d send it along?

Introduction to Poetry

I ask them to take a poem

and hold it up to the light

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope

and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose

to find out what it really means.

This Sunday’s text is Psalm 69. Why not take a moment and read it before we gather for worship? It’s a lament, a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. Take a couple of minutes and wonder, “What in my life is lamentable now? When have I ever felt like this before?”

I’m looking forward to sharing worship with you this Sunday.

Also, mark your calendars for Thursday evenings in July. Pastor Darryl Aaron from First Baptist Church on Highland Avenue and I are cooking up a plan for a book group. We’ll meet with members of First Baptist and work together to renew this historic relationship.

The first Sunday in May, someone in our congregation donated a large (#10) can of green beans (there was much more . . . enough to fill the back of our unofficial church van). Anyway, when Jerry and I arrived at Samaritan Ministries and one of the cooks was helping to unload, he saw the beans and said, “This is an answer to a prayer!” He explained that they had looked for green beans to add to the food they were cooking for that day’s lunch and couldn’t find any.

Before we could get away that day, the cook came out to the recycle container and with a big smile showed the can of beans he had already emptied into the pot.

Our missions giving is very important. This Sunday is the First Sunday-bring a gift to share with someone in our neighborhood who is hungry. And bring your change and extra cash-all of the loose cash and change goes to our Hunger Fund.

Also pray for the Missions and Education Committees this Sunday, as they consider our Missions giving for the 2015 budget. There are some great organizations that we support with our missions giving.

I am grateful to serve with such a generous congregation. I love you, and I love being your pastor.

Wake Forest Baptist Church was organized in 1956 when Wake Forest College moved from Wake Forest, North Carolina, to Winston-Salem, thereby perpetuating a 125-year-old tradition of having a Baptist church at the center of the campus. Since that time, Wake Forest Baptist Church has maintained a unique relationship with the university.

Though it operates as an autonomous congregation — electing its ministers, raising its budget, conducting its business and operating its programs — the church is housed in Wingate Hall, which also houses the Wake Forest School of Divinity and the Department of Religion. The congregation worships in Wait Chapel, the university’s largest auditorium. Students from the School of Divinity have preached frequently and powerfully in the church.

When the church was founded, many of the members of the student body, faculty and administration were Baptist. Over the years the percentage of Baptists on campus has decreased significantly, and the church has looked increasingly to the community for its membership. Currently, Wake Forest Baptist Church has approximately 230 members and active friends, most of them from the community. As in many churches, however, attendance is less than the enrolled membership. The church is increasingly ecumenical, while still endorsing and practicing historic Baptist principles, freedoms, and traditions.

Local Missions:

Wake Forest Baptist Church has been an innovator in local ministry. In 1962, two members were instrumental in founding the Winston-Salem Meals on Wheels ministry; several members were among the first group of servers. In the late 1960s the church helped establish the Association for the Benefit of Child Development, now called Imprints for Families. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the church conducted a kindergarten class for children with learning challenges.

Also during the 1990’s members founded a special mission group that provided home-cooked meals (cooked by members) to the AIDS care service. In 1998 a member founded and has since served as volunteer executive director of the Health and Wellness Clinic of the Triad Region—a monthly clinic for indigent patients. In 2002, a member cofounded and continues to serve as executive director of Authoring Action, which stimulates youth across the socioeconomic spectrum in developing their writing and speaking prowess. Also in 2002, members played a leading role in establishing C.H.A.N.G.E., a grassroots organization involving faith communities and neighborhood associations. In 2010, a member helped develop and is medical director of the Child Advocacy Center in an adjoining county; on referral from various agencies, it serves abused children. One member has very recently founded One to One Women Coaching Women, to assist single women and women veterans.

Racial Justice:

The ministers and members have been unafraid to confront controversial issues. In 1962, the church declared its membership open to all races—two months prior to the university trustees’ decision to admit non-white undergraduate students. In 1994, the church was presented the Whitney M. Young Award for “bridging the gaps in race relations” by the Winston-Salem Urban League. A year later the United Way of Forsyth County presented a special award to Wake Forest Baptist Church and its partner, First Baptist Church of Highland Avenue, for building “a better community through a variety of joint undertakings.”

Throughout the late 1980’s, 1990’s, and early 2000’s members worked on behalf Darryl Hunt, a 19 year old African American who was convicted of the brutal murder of a young white woman. The work ultimately resulted in his full exoneration and release from 19 years of wrongful imprisonment. One member who was active in the campaign for Hunt’s vindication wrote a widely acclaimed book about that long struggle for justice and faith.

Welcoming and Affirming:

In 2000, a same sex covenant service between two members of the church was celebrated in Wait Chapel, though it was not endorsed by the university. Because of its inclusive stand regarding the role of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons in the church, Wake Forest Baptist Church was removed from membership in the Pilot Mountain Baptist Association and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina; the church voluntarily left the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2005, the church received the Kaleidoscope Faith Community Award by PFLAG of Winston-Salem. From January 2011 to mid-2013, Wake Forest Baptist Church was probably unique among Baptist churches—at least in the USA–in having two lesbian senior pastors.

Affiliation:

The church has found a home in the Alliance of Baptists and continues to offer a vibrant witness to Jesus Christ.